The long arms of the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) recently caught a Nebraska man for making false statements in the collection of a sizeable crop insurance claim. The end result was a sentence of 16 weekends of jail time, a $100 special assessment, a $30,000 fine and the kicker of $1,000,000 in restitution. The sentence was for a 2015 crop insurance claim with the investigation starting after the man [...]
Which is it? Admittedly I keep going back to the well. Maybe it is because the rules and procedure for arbitrating a crop insurance claim are too complicated. Or maybe it is a dead horse and I need to get past feeling the Nebraska Supreme Court improperly ruled against my client in an arbitration claim in 2017. In that case, Karo v. NAU, an arbitrator ruled against the [...]
Around this time last year, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals found that an arbitrator did not exceed his authority when a dispute over the interpretation of a crop insurance policy provision arose after the arbitration proceedings. Balvin v. Rain and Haill, LLC. Why is this important? It is important because in 2015, the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation ("FCIC") issued Final Agency Determination ("FAD") 230* which stated the following: A [...]
Ask anybody who has attempted to overturn an arbitrator's award in a crop insurance arbitration; the struggle is real even when the arbitrator is dead wrong. Crop insurance arbitration is held to the standards of the Federal Arbitration Act (the "Act"). The Act strictly prohibits overturning an arbitration award unless "the arbitrators exceeded their powers, or so imperfectly executed them that a mutual final, and definite award upon the subject [...]
Hail damage to corn field near Hastings, Nebraska Every year farmers face multiple weather events that can instantly undo the hard work of planting and maintaining a crop. Widespread drought and flooding can wipe out entire crops across a large area. On the other hand, hail and wind storm damage may be extremely variable. Notwithstanding the recent derecho event, a hail or wind storm might affect one farmer [...]
Added Land: Insurance Options Ahead Farm land does not change hands very often but when it does the acquiring operator should keep in mind the rules which may affect the operator's crop insurance benefits covering the newly added land. Failing to understand and abide by the Risk Management Association's (RMA) rules can cost an operator the maximum guaranteed yields and dramatically reduce the indemnity available under the [...]
Too wet to plant Earlier this month, Chuck Koster, Attorney General for Missouri, filed a lawsuit against Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to extend the deadline for filing planted acreage reports. The USDA requires most farmers in Missouri to report their planted acres by July 15 in order to secure coverage under the farmers' crop insurance policies. The USDA allows farmers a 5 day grace period [...]
Approaching Storm Every spring and early summer, heavy rains, hail, and tornadoes force Midwest farmers into a game of "Crop Insurance Mother May I" regarding whether they will replant damaged crops. For crop insurance purposes, permission is almost always necessary when deciding whether to destroy and replant the damaged crop or destroy the damaged crop and plant a new crop. When facing a replant decision remember the following: "When a crop is damaged and it [...]
Incentives work. Trust me, I use incentives all the time to get my three year old to sit still, eat his dinner, and stop asking me "why?" So why don't you ever see crop insurance agents incentivizing clients with bargains on premiums? Incentives on crop insurance rates, no matter how small, are not allowed. In the crop insurance world such incentives are called "rebates" and offering rebates is illegal under the Federal [...]
Prairie Pothole Region MapUS Geographic Survey ...for acres found in the Prairie Pothole National Priority Area, which extends to regions of Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. Beginning in 2014, acres planted in the Prairie Pothole region will be eligible for prevented planting payments if those acres were planted in at least one out of the last four years. The acres are eligible even if one or more of those four years was [...]
To plant or not to plant? It is a question several farmers are facing this year in those areas of the Midwest where the rain hasn't let up and the rivers have overtopped their banks. In some areas, the decision has been made for them. In those areas where the fields are beginning to dry out, farmers are well advised to speak with their crop insurance agent to determine how their decision may [...]
Farmer v. Crop Insurer I was hanging out in Midwesttown, USA the other day and came across a poster advertising an event held at the community center. The poster read: FIGHT NIGHT! Jimmythe Farmer v. Craig Crop Insurer in a 12 round winner take all bout. So I headed right over, laid down my money and walked in to a sold out fight. It was a good fight with both fighters standing toe to toe [...]
Every time I turn on the Weather Channel it seems like another area of the country has been hit by a natural disaster. Last week, Hurricane Irene struck the east coast resulting in extensive damage to the area's crop and livestock. Farmers in the Midwestern states of Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri are just beginning to discover the extent of damage to their fields caused by long term flooding of the Missouri River Basin. Agricultural producers in [...]
The producer's farming the approximate 450,000 acres of prime Nebraska and Iowa farmland along the Missouri River have to worry about at least two additional issues other producers may not worry about; obligations under forward grain contracts, and flood insurance coverage. 1) Forward contracts bind a producer to deliver grain to a buyer at an agreed upon price at a specific time in the future. Most contracts are not voided by natural disasters, which leaves the [...]
